Clothes from the past

This year textiles really seem to be making a comeback in my life - not that they ever really left. I grew up making my own clothes and often wish I had kept some of them or at least some of the fabric scraps. There was the deep turquoise A-line dress that I wore with white fishnets and yellow tie shows. The dark navy A-line with bright flowers all over it. I think that one had the matching orange or yellow hose. And for the 7th and 8th grade dance the really fun top and shorts set (yellow kettlecloth) with the band of daisies around each leg and the yoke. And no photos to show even.

In high school, my mom made for me my junior-senior prom dress-white with lace overlay and a red velvet ribbon at the empire waist. There was also the striped Turkish coat (Folkwear pattern) with a small flower-patterned lining. The outside of the coat was actually mattress ticking fabric - still love those navy stripes today.

But even as I left high school and into college and then working,  the sewing did not stop. Fast forward to the 80’s and my purple small wale corduroy Ralph Lauren full skirt and top suit! I still have this pattern somewhere.

I haven’t sewn much the last 15 years so signing up to take a class from Jude Hill has been really fun - pulling out the few fabrics that I still have, raiding my mom’s or sister’s pile.

This weekend I did find out that my mom still has one of the Easter dresses she made for my sister and me - published on the front of the Stillwater newspaper when we were quite small and the sailor dress (which my sister was photographed in). We grew up during the time of mothers sewing their children’s clothes. Imagine having more than a few kids! The girls often ended up in the same dress- maybe because it was easier and cheaper to buy all the fabric that way. 

Deconstructing blue silk sheath

Over the last few years I have been collecting aka buying vintage clothing at estate sales and flea markets. You can only collect so many before you need to consider what you are going to do with all of the pieces. But not all vintage clothing has value - the owner may not have kept the pieces from moisture (musty smelling), heat, cold and the ever omnipresent bugs or moths! Also surprising how many smaller size pieces are available - have we really grown that much bigger since the 60’s??!!

Some of the less desirable pieces may end up in strips in my weavings or taken apart to be remade into something else. I decided to photograph some of the dresses while taking them apart as their construction was often very labor intensive.

This is the dart of a blue silk sheath dress with a beautiful border at the bottom of the dress. Since it had a large brown spot on it, I decided it would be better to use in pieces. The dress was lined and all of the seams had their edges whipped stitched. When I sewed, I never did that!! The dart even had seam binding over the opened dart to make it lay flat or smooth. 

The ironic part is I decided to hand wash the silk and the big brown spot literally shredded in the water. As my sister said, that wouldn’t have been a good sale.